No Child Should Go Hungry At Christmas - Voucher & Food Hub Information

Dear Headteachers/Principals,

This afternoon, a press release has been issued with further details on how we intend to spend the Winter Covid Grant from Government.

Attached you will find:

1.Free School Meal Children

Thank you for submitting the required data to allow the Local Authority to coordinate a borough wide approach. This will support families in accessing 1 voucher per family as we have been able to link siblings where they are in attending  different schools.

Exchequer Services will now use the PayPoint Scheme to send vouchers directly to parents either via SMS or email.

Families will commence receiving vouchers from Friday 11th December, with a view to all those entitled receiving voucher by Tuesday 15th December.

Below is a brief summary about the PayPoint scheme and FAQ’s are attached.   

Families will receive a text message (SMS) or email (typically the majority  will be via SMS but where there are no mobile numbers available vouchers will be sent to an email address ).

This message will contain a bar coded voucher and a link to help parents find their nearest PayPoint retailer. 

There are over 140 PayPoint retailers in the borough and the easiest way to find  the  nearest one would be to visit http://www.paypoint.co.uk/paypointlocator.  

PayPoint retailers can be anything from  a local shop, to a convenience store, petrol station or local supermarket and would normally display the PayPoint logo outside their premises

Parents will present the shop assistant with the barcoded voucher which will be redeemed for cash.  The cash does not have to be spent in the store that issues the cash.

Vouchers expire after 30 days if they have not been redeemed. 

If parents have issues cashing the vouchers or the retailer is struggling  with redeeming the voucher,   contact can be made with PayPoint by calling 0300 400 0002 when they are in the store as per the attached FAQ.

What we need Schools to do:

  • Share the above information with your Free School Meal families by close of play on Thursday 10th December.
  • Let your school community know that those families eligible for free school meals will be receiving vouchers and encourage those who believe they are eligible for Free School Meals and not currently claiming,to complete a free school meal form.
  • Attached is a mop up spreadsheet, this should be used for families who have become eligible for Free School Meals along with your EYPP and NRPF children since you submitted your master spreadsheet, please email this to KIH KIH@enfield.gov.uk by 4pm on Thursday 10th December.

2.Children in greatest need who are no free school meal children

Over 1500 children were identified by schools, Enfield Council are working with 8 community groups across the borough to co-ordinate food support between 28th-30th December.

As part of the Covid Winter Grant Scheme, Enfield Council in partnership with the Felix Project, North Enfield Foodbank and other community organisations, will be providing vulnerable families (those who are not in receipt of Free School Meals) with food parcels over the festive period.

Thank you for identifying the families within your school who are in greatest need.

Food collection hubs will be set up across the borough and will be run by local voluntary, community and faith organisations. Food collection hubs will be open for families to collect a food parcel at a pre-allocated time from between the 28th to the 30th December. Families will need to be referred to this service to collect food from a Food Collection Hub.

We would you to inform the families you have identified them and ask them confirm they would like to receive food support by means of a food parcel between 28th-30th December.

Please ask them to email alison.asamoah@enfield.gov.uk by the 14th December.

They will need to provide the following information:

  • Name
  • The school their child/children attend
  • The number of members in their family
  • Their Postcode
  • Any dietary requirements e.g. vegetarian or allergy requirements

Families who provide this information will be contacted via email on the 16th December and provided with a specific date, time and location of hub they should attend to collect their food parcel from. We will try to match families to a Food Collection Hub that is closest to their residence.

Families with dietary requirements will have acknowledgement of this confirmed in the email they receive. They will need to show a copy of the email highlighting acknowledgement of their dietary requirement when they arrive at their designated Food Collection Hub to ensure they receive the correct food parcel.

Food Collection Hubs will not be provided with the family’s personal information and will only receive information on the dietary requirements of families attending their Food Hub.

For queries relating to the Food Collection Hubs over the festive period, please contact Alison.asamoah@enfield.gov.uk

What we need Schools to do:

  • Inform the families you have identified them and ask them confirm they would like to receive food support by means of a food parcel between 28th-30th December.
  • Encourage families to sign up for the support by Friday 11th December

If you have any questions with any of the above please contact Cheryl Headon cheryl.headon@enfield.gov.uk

Best wishes,

Peter Nathan                                                                 Cheryl Headon

Director of Education                                                     Head of Schools Traded Services

People Department                                                        Resources Department

Enfield Council                                                               Enfield Council